Hollywood has a problem. He's Cole Chanin-Hassman, and he's 10. Like many other kids his age, the Los Angeles fourth-grader counts among his entertainment tools his Xbox 360 game console, his Android phone and his computer. The television is almost an afterthought. When Cole comes home from school, he turns on Cartoon Network's "Regular Show," but the characters on the TV screen compete for his attention with the world-building game "Minecraft" and a parade of YouTube videos on his computer.

March 18, 2014 | By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times Television Critic, Los Angeles Times Television Critic

Diva Rule No. 1: Know how to make a big entrance. Diva Rule No. 2: Know how to make a big exit. Diva Rule No. 3: Do these things as often as humanly possible. The return earlier this month of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" marked the end of the midseason premieres. By the end of the month, the premieres of the midseason replacements should also have concluded, giving us a few blessed weeks of "normal" television viewing before the actual season finales begin. If you're confused about the difference between a midseason premiere and a midseason replacement premiere, the answer is increasingly "not much.

Comcast Corp. has added prime-time television series from Fox and ABC to its video-on-demand service, becoming the first pay-television provider to offer episodes of current programs from all four major TV networks: ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The move recognizes that consumers no longer are adhering to the old-school prime-time TV schedules that have long dictated how millions of TV viewers spend their evenings. Consumers instead have embraced digital video recorders and services like Hulu, Netflix and Apple Inc.'s iTunes so they can watch TV programs on their own timetable.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has joined Spanish-language broadcaster Estrella TV as a senior advisor to help the 4-year-old television network gain traction. The network, based in Burbank, is banking on Villaraigosa to give it greater visibility and pull in additional advertising dollars to better compete with established giants, including Univision Communications and NBCUniversal's Telemundo. Estrella TV becomes the latest employer of Villaraigosa since he departed City Hall last summer.

The ABC, NBC and CBS television networks said Thursday they will air live coverage today of the 7 a.m. PDT start of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas. CNN, PBS and C-SPAN earlier said they would provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of the hearings, as did cable's new Court TV network, which serves 5 million homes. ABC said it had not decided how long it will continue its live coverage.

American television networks were forced to make delicate decisions about the use of video footage of Middle East violence Thursday. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel repeatedly aired footage of a Palestinian mob that attacked and killed three Israeli soldiers. While the scenes depicted a violent attack, what they were attacking was never made clear.

The three major television networks, which staged a walkout during contract talks in February, have reached agreement on a new three-year contract with the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Amazon.com Inc. said its subsidiary, CustomFlix Labs Inc., had signed deals with television networks including NBC Universal that could let them sell DVDs of TV shows soon after they air. They initially call for CustomFlix to sell DVDs of archived shows with a niche audience, such as NBC's "Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show" and "Antiques Roadshow" from PBS.

For the first time since they unveiled their controversial program ratings code in December, three of the four major television networks now seem willing to add labels that would provide more information about the violence and sexual content of their shows. But one industry executive cautioned Tuesday that their readiness to compromise is contingent on getting assurances that children's advocacy groups and Congressional critics would stop pushing for even more stringent guidelines.

A bitterly divided Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to grant the television networks limited entry into the lucrative TV program rerun market, but it stopped short of lifting the rules entirely, as the networks had sought. The 3-2 decision, although aimed at settling one of the longest and most intense lobbying campaigns Washington has ever faced, will only extend the battle between the networks and Hollywood studios over the $4.

SACRAMENTO - California legislators scrambled Thursday to distance themselves from allegations of bribery and corruption against Democratic Sen. Ronald Calderon of Montebello, a day after details of a federal probe of his activities aired on a television network. The Capitol was roiling over comments attributed to Calderon in a report by the Al Jazeera cable network, based on what it identified as a sealed FBI affidavit, that he had enlisted other lawmakers to help him influence policy.

SACRAMENTO - State Sen. Ronald Calderon allegedly accepted $60,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent during an elaborate sting operation, according to a report by the Al Jazeera television network, which cited what it described as a sealed federal affidavit. The money was in exchange for Calderon's efforts to expand tax credits available to the film industry and for hiring on the state payroll a woman purported to be the undercover agent's girlfriend - but who was also an undercover agent, according to the document, which the television network posted on its website.

NBC's Bob Costas weighed in Sunday that it is time for the Washington Redskins to change their name. But don't look for the networks that carry the National Football League, including NBC, to follow his lead just yet. Even if NBC wanted to, its contract with the NFL would make such a move difficult. In a statement, an NBC Sports spokesman said, "although we are sensitive to the fact that some may find this situation offensive, we are contractually obligated to use current NFL team names.

Frank L. Fouce, an impresario of Spanish-language entertainment who turned downtown's historic Million Dollar Theater into a prestigious venue for a burgeoning Latino market and helped launch the television network that became Univision, died Sept. 22 in Los Angeles. He was 85. The cause was lymphoma, said his daughter, Paula Fouce. Fouce was a cofounder of Spanish International Communications Corp., which operated the first Spanish-language television stations in the United States, including KMEX-TV (Channel 34)

USC's Sept. 14 game against Boston College at the L.A. Coliseum will kick off at noon and and will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks, USC announced Wednesday. Nearly half of the kickoff times for the Trojans' 13 games have now been set. Other kickoff times and television broadcast information (all times PDT): --Aug. 29 at Hawaii, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network --Sept. 7 vs. Washington State, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 --Oct. 10 vs. Arizona, 7:30 p.m. Fox Sports 1 --Oct. 19 at Notre Dame, 4:30 p.m., NBC --Nov.

For the past two years, Netflix has sought to redefine itself as not merely a distributor of other studios' content but also as a programmer in its own right. Now, after collecting 14 Emmy nominations Thursday, Netflix's original-content strategy has won validation from the company's traditional-media peers. The Los Gatos, Calif., company has been refining its approach to programming, opting to stop paying top dollar for every movie and TV show out there, unless Netflix can offer them exclusively to its 36 million subscribers.

Has the future been postponed? It may seem like old times with television networks pulling in massive advertising dollars--along with takeover feelers from Time Warner, Disney, Turner Broadcasting and ITT Corp., all of which are looking at a price tag of $5 billion and more for NBC. The new movie, "Quiz Show," looks back to the golden 1950s, when folks gathered round the family TV set.

U.S. Spanish-language television network Telemundo and Mexican partner Grupo Xtra have asked Mexico's government to auction more frequency bands so they can launch a new broadcast TV network. Hialeah, Fla.-based Telemundo, part of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, teamed up with Grupo Xtra in April to produce TV shows and seek media ventures in Mexico, and they now want to extend their reach.

For nearly two decades the Essence Music Festival has been the premiere destination for black music fans from around the country. Now, BET is hoping to change that. The Black Entertainment Television network has built a formidable competitor to Essence's event by transforming its own annual award spectacle into a three-day destination festival in Los Angeles. The BET Experience will kick off June 28 and feature concerts by headliners Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg, Miguel and R. Kelly as well as wellness seminars, celebrity panels, a film festival and, yes, an awards show telecast on June 30. All combined, the event will attract more than 100,000 people to the city, according to the network.

ABC's "Scandal" revolves around a beautiful, law-breaking Washington power-fixer with killer instincts and a matching wardrobe. She's madly in love with the very flawed president of the United States, who, among other things, recently murdered a Supreme Court justice. And they're the good guys. This is the show that Twitter built. Premiering midseason last year to tepid reviews (including mine) and low ratings, "Scandal," ABC's drama about crisis manager Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington)